- (1.)The appellants and one Raju @ Jaswant were charged of an offence punishable under section 302 read with section 34 IPC before the third additional session judge, bhind, Madhya Pradesh in session case no. 53 of 1986. Learned session judge having found them guilty of said offence convicted them to undergo a sentence for life imprisonment for having committed the murder of one Vijay Singh. An appeal filed against the said judgment and conviction before the High Court of Madhya Pradesh at Gwalior in criminal appeal no. 204 of 1987 was dismissed by the High Court. It is stated that during the pendency of the said appeal, the third accused Raju @jaswant died and the appeal stood abated as against him. After the confirmation of their sentence by the High Court, the two appellants, Vinod kumar and Anil Kumar, are before this court in this appeal.
(2.)It is the prosecution case that on the evening of 20th of December, 1985 the three accused persons went to the bus station at Gurgaon and approached one Vijay singh who was a driver of taxi car no. DEB- 2355 and asked him to take them to Mathura from Gurgaon. It is further stated by the prosecution that the driver agreed to take them for a fare of Rs. 650. 00. It is stated that the accused persons along with Vijay Singh and his cleaner, Manohar Lal, examined before the session court as PW-18, started from Gurgaon to Mathura. On the way, they went to a petrol pump to fill the petrol. At that point of time, the accused persons told manohar Lal PW-18, that since children of their boss are also coming and there may not be sufficient place for everybody hence, said Manohar Lal was asked to get down from the car. The further case of the prosecution is that on the evening of 21/12/1985 the accused persons along with deceased Vijay Singh went to the residence of PW-8 Nankibai at village Ranipura and stayed overnight there and had their dinner in the said house. The prosecution has placed reliance upon the evidence of pw-6 Matru, PW-7 Satto Bai, PW-8 nankibai and PW-9 Jitendra to prove the fact that the accused persons with the deceased had spent a night at the residence of PW-8 Nankibai and had dinner there. It is also stated that on 21st December early morning, accused persons approached nankibai and told her that they wanted to leave her house and they also supposed to make an extra-judicial confession that they had killed Vijay Singh. Further, case of the prosecution is that accused persons demanded money from Nankibai but she refused to pay them any money. The prosecution then pleads that at about 4.30 in the morning, a patrolling party of Oodi Mod police station which was on duty on the highway between Bhind and Etawa, having seen these persons in a suspicious circumstance, arrested the said persons and on a search of their person they found certain cartridges as well as a katta and a briefcase belonging to A-2 which were seized from them and arrested them. The prosecution further alleges that based on this recovery, a case under section 25 of the arms Act was registered and the said case is still pending before the district and sessions court, Etawa.
(3.)It is also stated that at about 7.30 a. m. in the village of Ranipura, the local chowkidar reported that a dead body of unknown person is lying in the field. On an enquiry, he came to know that this deceased had come with three persons to the house of pw-8 Nankibai in the village, Ranipura. On further enquiry, it was seen that the dead body was that of Vijay Singh which was identified by his driving licence. It is also stated that at around 3.30 in the afternoon, car no. DEB 2355 was also found abandoned at some distance away from village Ranipura. Based on the further investigation conducted by PW-11, investigating officer lodged a charge-sheet against the appellants herein. During the course of investigation, it was noticed that A-1 had certain injuries on the right hand. The prosecution case is that this injury was suffered by the first appellant during attack on Vijay Singh who on being attacked stopped the car and ran away in the field of Arhar. It is stated that the appellants chased and attacked the deceased with the dagger consequent to which Vijay Singh died. The defence taken by the accused persons is one of the total denial.